Fuel converter for gasoline engines



Aug. 11, 1936. J. J. SIMPSON ET AL I FUEL CONVERTER FOR GASOLINE ENGINES Filed Aug. 4, 1934- ATTORNEY INVENTORS Jrf S/M 501V. flS/mpso/v.

Patented Aug. 11, 1936 PATENT OFFICE.

FUEL CONVERTER FOR GASOLINE ENGINES Jesse J. Simpson and Delbert Simpson,

j Jackson, Calif.

Application August 4, 1934, Serial No. 738,568

1 Claim.

This invention relates to fuel converter devices for internal combustion engines, to enable an engine designed to operate on gasoline to also operate on cheaper and lower grade and conse- 5 quently less volatile fuels.

The principal objects of our invention are to provide a converter for the purpose constructed to treat such low grade fuel so efficiently that no carbon will be formed in the cylinders of the engine, there will be no dilution in the crank case due to condensed and unburned fuel; there will be no knocking, fouled plugs 'or decrease in power; the same carburetor maybe used as with gasoline and without any readjustment of the 73 same being necessary; and no changes of any character, such as altering the compression space in the cylinders, need be made to the engine.

All the advantages of gasoline operation are therefore retained atv a much lower operating 39 cost. The above results are obtained by reason of the principle of construction of our converter as heretofore described and are by no means merely theoretical, as gas engines equipped with our converters have been in actual and continu- 25 ous service for some time.

We are aware that numerous converters p urporting or attempting to accomplish the same results have been previously made and tried out. As far as we are aware however all such devices 30 have failed to give proper satisfaction, and detrimentally affect the engine and its operation at one point or another for the reason that their principle of construction has been faulty, in that while they efficiently vaporize the low grade fuel 35 at or adjacent the carburetor, these devices are so constructed that a condensation of the liquid fuel from the mixture has begun to take place by the time the mixture is actually taken into the engine.

40 A certain amount of the fuel in a raw liquid state therefore passes into the cylinders with detrimental results.

We avoid this vitally defective feature by the particular construction of our device as will now 45 be explained.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

55 In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure l is a side elevation partly broken out of our improved converter as designed for a certain standard four cylinder gas engine, shown detached from the engine and looking at the engine side of the converter.

Figure 2 is a plan view partly in section of the converter.

Referring now more particularly to the char- 10 acters of reference on the drawing, the numeral I denotes a branched intake manifold of suitable contour, terminating at its lower end in a flanged neck 2 adapted for connection to a carburetor. in the usual manner. At their upper ends the various branches of the manifold terminate. in a row of laterally facing ports 3 adapted to register with the intake ports of the cylinder blockof the engine. I

Completely surrounding and spaced from the manifold in substantially symmetrical relation thereto (except for the lower portion of the neck 2 which is exposed) is an exhaust chest 4 which takes the place of the ordinary exhaust manifold. The inner wall 411 of this chest extends to and is vertically alined with the ported ends of the intake manifold and surrounds these ports, being itself provided with ports 5 to register with the exhaust ports of the engine. All the ports are therefore actually disposed in said inner wall; which is recessed about the ports as shown at 6 to receive the usual form of ring gasket so as to make a gas tight seal with the cylinder block.

A plurality of exhaust stacks 1 project from the top wall of the chest in longitudinally spaced relation, said stacks having individually adjustable dampers 8 therein. The unit is secured against the engine by bolts passed through holes 9 in the front and back walls of the chest and positioned to register with the usual tapped clamping bolt holesin the cylinder block.

The intake manifold and chest may be made as an integral casting as shown, or the actual intake manifold of the engine may be used and the chest built around the same. This is unimportant, the vital feature which gives us the desired results being the fact that the intake manifold is completely surrounded and enclosed in the chest, so that the exhaust'heat therein will effect the walls of the intake manifold through out their extent and the fuel mixture in the manifold will be maintained in a heated condition until such mixture actually enters the engine.

In operation the engine is started with gasoline in the usual manner and is run until the exhaust chest and the walls of the enclosed intake manifold are thoroughly heated by the exhaust gases passing through the chest. This is ordinarily a matter of a few moments and may be hastened by closing one or more of the exhaust stack dampers, so as to confine the heat within the chest. As soon as the desired heat has been attained the flow of gasoline to the carburetor is cut off and the low grade fuel allowed to feed thereto.

The mixture of this fuel withair is initially made in the carburetor in the customary manner and said mixture immediately passes into and through the intake manifold to the various cylinders. Since the walls of the intake manifold are maintained in an evenly and thoroughly heated condition from end to end, the mixture in contact with said walls becomes properly vaporized and will remain in a vaporized condition until it is drawn into the engine. This retaining of the mixture in a properly vaporized conditionis aided by the fact that the exhaust gases immediately upon their leaving the cylinder and at which timethey are in their most highly heated condition, impinge directly on the walls of the manifold branches adjacent their point of connection with the cylinders. In other words, these branched ends of the manifold are the hottest part of the entire manifold unit and the mixture is thus subjected to a final vaporizing heat immediately prior to its being drawn into the engine.

The usual cooling and condensing action on a mixture passing through an exposed and relatively cool manifold is therefore avoided, and as stated the mixture when once vaporized never has an opportunity or tendency to condense.

When the engine is operating on a low grade fuel the exhaust stack dampers may be adjusted as necessary to maintain the walls of the manifold at the proper heat, according to operating conditions such as engine speed, atmospheric temperature adjacent the engine, and other factors.

It is to be understood that while we have shown and described the device as constructed for a particular four cylinder engine, it can obviously be made so as to be applied to any gas engine of any number of cylinders, and which have dif ferent shapes of manifold and arrangement of ports from that herein shown.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resortedto as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A fuel converter for gas engines comprising an intake manifold adapted at one end for connection to acarburetor, a chest constituting the ex haust manifold completely surrounding the intake manifold in spaced relation thereto except at said one end to which the carburetor is attached, ports formed in one wall of the chest in register with the cylinder exhaust openings, a plurality of exhaust outlet passages projecting in spaced relation from the chest intermediate said wall and the one opposed thereto and individually adjustable dampers in said exhaust passages.

JESSE J. SIMPSON. DELBERT SIMPSON. 

